Jona is an Australian talent known for playing events such as the country’s iconic Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival.

He is a connoisseur who hunts out music that speaks to his soul as much as it does his ears, as he is a deeply spiritual person who used music to express emotions and alter his mindstate.

Alongside his incredible DJ set, he also took the time to run through some interview questions…

Hi Jona, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today, your set was really something special. How did you find the format what was the vibe/energy you were trying to capture?

Hey there, thank you for your kind words. I am glad it resonates with you guys! Before I started the creative process, I pretty much just looked at my music collection and its vastness of different energies/genres. I felt like making good use of the opportunity of creating such a long journey with the extended set length. So, starting it calm and grounded, then slowly travelling through all the energies until raising it into the galaxies, which just felt like the perfect way to go about it.

Speak to us about how you first found your love for music, electronic or otherwise? And how long have you been DJ’ing for?

I started experiencing a deep love for electronic music in my late teens. Going out on the dance floors of Germany then making playlists and choosing the tunes for clique hangouts was always my thing. Passion and obsession got me to gather a huge collection over the years], but I have only been DJing for a year or two. Luckily, I was already preparing for at least four years beforehand, and having a well-developed collection at hand did help a lot when I actually started.

Tell us about your favourite DJ/s, and how have they’ve influenced your style?

By no means I’d say I’ve got any favourite DJs. My Mix gave you a good idea of how diverse my love for the beats is, but even that was only a small fraction of the variety of tunes and artists that I love. People should check out my SoundCloud page if they want to hear some other tunes that I’m passionate about, as I’ve got lots of mixes on there. I do feel like mentioning ‘Sumiruna’ though, but his sound is so amazingly unique that I have not been able to mix it with anything else, and his art speaks to my soul on an extremely deep level.

I know you are quite an avid meditator, when did you take up this practice and how has it benefited your life?

Meditation truly entered my field of consciousness a few years ago when I hit a very dark phase in my life. Finding my connection to spirit through the stillness of my mind was what made all those challenges turn out to be a delightful blessing in disguise. I am deeply grateful for all the pain I had to experience in order to develop such a deep connection to my soul and the eternal greatness that is around and within all of us.

I have been told you are a diet conscious person who takes things like vitamin supplements, tell us about some key vitamins or supplements you think everyone could benefit from taking?

Yes, living in tune and harmony with my body and prioritising my physical, emotional and mental wellbeing has truly served me well to live a deeply happy and fulfilled life. Some key supplements that I’d recommend everybody to integrate are Sunlight, Nature Walks, Spring Water, Nose Breathing, Organic Wholefood, Qigong and Stillness…

At the beginning of the set, there is a sample that references “somebody suits” where is this from? And can you delve a little deeper into your interpretation of this, as it really stood out to me? 

I truly love that you are asking this question. It shows how attentively you have taken in every bit of the mix. It took me a few times to actually understand his words and their meaning myself. 

I highly recommend everybody to listen over it a few times starting at around 5:40mins. What you are hearing at that point is the magnificent and profound spiritual mentor ‘Ram Dass’ who has guided so many into a deeper connection to their true self. Ram Dass’s original audio file was added by Pippi Ciez into his tune ‘Lost Cloud’.  

Ram Dass is speaking about life and incarnation from a soul’s perspective. How joining this experience here and entering the human body is like entering a “spacesuit for living on this plane”. And he is calling growing up – “somebody training” – learning how to move and interact in and with the spacesuit. He is portraying life in the most wonderful of ways and is reminding us playfully that this all here is just an experience we chose to have, but in truth, we are eternal beings just living a human life. 

If you would like to connect more to Ram Dass’s teachings then just search for his name online, and also make sure to listen on Spotify to “Sit Around The Fire” by Jon Hopkins, Ram Dass and East Forest. 

Let’s let our imaginations wander, if you could play anywhere in the world, for example, at a historical monument, a large festival or just in front of the perfect amount of close friends… where would it be?

I’d love to play at so many places, but I’ve listed some below that jump to mind…

• Closing set at Garbicz Festival (Poland).
• Sunrise at Kings canyon in Australia.
• Sunset in the Desert of Arizona.

We have started asking Flow/333 contributors to add 2-4 tracks to our Spotify playlists they can be originals or songs you just can’t stop listening to, what would you like to add?

Some of the tracks that really speak to me are  ‘Zambezy’ by Alexey Union, ‘Bamboo’ by Marcus Meinhardt and ‘Private Dancer’ by Kastis Torrau.

Is there any message or words you would like to convey to readers to finish?

I’d love to remind everyone that in these times of media propaganda, the best we can all do is focus on our own well-being, and on uplifting our immediate surroundings for those we love. Our intimate field of influence is where our energy and focus is best invested, as that’s where we can have the greatest positive impact on moving our collective journey forward.